(Trinidad Guardian) T&T has already failed at least one recommendation of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) on money laundering, having had no convictions for the crime despite passing stringent laws last year. So said, David West, director of the Police Complaints Authority on Tuesday. He was speaking at a luncheon by the Rotary Club of Port-of-Spain on Fitzblackman Drive, Woodbrook. West previously held the post of director (designate) of the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU).
The Miscellaneous Pro-visions (Proceeds of Crime, Anti-Terrorism, Financial Intelligence Unit of T&T) Act amended several laws to make it easier for police to charge people for money-laundering offences. Finance Minister Larry Howai said previously the amendments would bring T&T in greater compliance with the recommendations of the FATF.
He said the Act made money laundering a stand-alone offence so that the prosecution did not need a conviction in relation to the predicate offence from which the proceeds were derived. Countries not in compliance with the FATF are identified by the task force as high-risk and non-compliant, according to the FATF Web site.
West said: “You should know that just last week we would have been evaluated by the Financial Action Task Force so that will say whether we are compliant or not with the recommendations. “I could tell you right now, we failed on one because we are not compliant with criminal convictions. We have no criminal convictions in money laundering so therefore we have failed already.”
He said the FATF was not only interested in the number of recommendations countries were compliant but rather “how effective is the legislation and with no criminal convictions it is not operational.” He said the reason the country had a FIU was to comply with FATF recommendations. He said the FIU, as it stood, had no investigative powers and did not work effectively for the country.
